My return to Bogota after a year was slightly marred by the continuing effects of food poisoning... but after meeting up with David, Camilo and Sebastian on Thursday evening for a rehearsal of sorts with the quad speaker system we were to use on Friday, I was ready for the concert.
Then one of the artists involved in the evening's events starting acting as if he was the star of the show - I don't know, maybe he was, but I find overinflated egos unnecessary and distasteful in my line of work as an artist... it's such a small field we inhabit as 'experimental' musicians or sound artists, why assume you're much more important than someone else?
I actually find this behaviour unacceptable in life generally...
To top things off, one of the speakers that was working fine during the rehearsal and the soundcheck before the show started to sound like a bowl of rice krispies when I played a really rather subtle mid-low frequency sound through it! It took the edge off any dynamic I tried to build during my set, which is a shame. the spatialisation of the piece worked well though. Of all the sets, I thought David's was the best - nice textures and tones, good pace and development - well done sir!
Afterwards we hit a burger place - a test for my stomach and one that it passed!! :-)
Saturday I met with someone very special to me from my last visit to Bogota, Ms. Ana Gabriela Jimenez Devia. It was great to see her and catch up. Then a quiet night in watching the first Downey Jr/Law Sherlock Holmes movie, which I actually really enjoyed! Inspired by this, I bought a copy of 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' from a bookshop in La Candelaria to read on the next few flights I'll be taking!
Sunday i was collected by David and Lina to go for tapas and sangria, and then after visiting David's parents - lovely people! - I was dropped at Matik-Matik for Sunday evening's concert with Ana Maria Romano. Ricardo Arias and one of his students joined us and opened the evening, playing sound making objects and processing the sounds - and then Ana and I performed a crossover set, so I began solo, was then joined by Ana, and then she played solo. I have to say, even though i was performing as part of it, the piece was gorgeous! Ana and I have very different approaches to making music, but they worked together really well! I look forward to working with ehr again at some point in the future...
Monday i flew back to Medellin, was collected at the airport by my make up artist friend Juliana and we visited a couple of the pueblos around Medellin. Very nice to see what lies outside the city.
And Tuesday i visited Casa Tres Patios to discuss coming back to Medellin for another residency early next year...
So now, safely back at Campos de Gutierrez, I prepare for a presentation this evening at Plazarte and continue to compose the piece I have created here.
Thursday 22 March 2012
Thursday 15 March 2012
Campos de Gutierrez/Medellin - Bogota
after checking where i had got to in my last post, i can continue... so from the 2nd march until the 10th work commenced on a couple of possible new methods of playing sounds in a live context, or maybe an installation. the main idea is nothing new - sound being played through resonant objects - but i also tried to fabricate a directional speaker using a huge beer can that held 8 smaller cans, lots of corrugated cardboard and a dayton sound exciter (a speaker driver that allows you to play sound/music through a solid object or surface).
oh, and also on the 3rd we were invited to the space where we were going to exhibit for a party. this was a fundraiser for a group of artists who needed to raise money to go to costa rica, and it worked! they had quite a crowd and a really great band. needless to say, my britishness came to the fore and i was unable to dance at all, even when drinking heavily! the trouble is colombians are just born dnacers - i was unable to even try as i would have looked like the flailing uncle at a wedding even if i could dance, and those of you who know me know i can't!! ah well, i met some lovely people anyway!
back to the subject - sounds were gathered for a few days at campos de gutierrez, and also continuing experiments with the sound exciters, playing 'wooden' sounds through the body of an old guitar and 'metallic' sounds through another beer can, although this was to be replaced with an oil drum i had spied at plazarte (the exhibition space). the homework paid off - once i got to the space to install on the friday, everything went according to plan. the two objects and the house speaker system were all i needed to play a multi-channel piece on the opening night. i also had plans for a small brass bell and violin bow - more later...
on thursday a young artist called miguel izasa from medellin visited us (well, me) at campos de gutierrez, and for someone so young, he's really focused and knows exactly what he's doing with sound and recording... we spent the afternoon walking up the mountain to the village of santa elena, recording when possible, but mainly chatting about sound/music/art/etc.
saturday came around and things came together on that day, with some of the artists working through the night on their installations. and the main thing was that some grass that an artist called chris wolston had ordered turned up and was installed in one of the open squares in the space. the down side of this was, as the grass was being installed, the door remained open and someone got access to the building and stole my buddy alejandro's computer (with all of his residency work on it) and projector. :-(
an absolute shame and it really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy... after fruitless attempts at tracking down the thieves, and much soul searching, he went ahead with his show, which was great.
also on saturday, david velez from bogota came to perform. he decided to play in a duo with miguel and their performance was pretty great, although affected by loud chatter and the sub-standard speaker system. they were set up by the bar and i asked the bar to be closed during performances but there was no stopping it!
i practically begged the organisers to close the bar for my performance, knowing it was going to be a lot quieter than david and miguel's, and thankfully they did. there was still chatter from other parts of the building, but in the square, the audience were really great, respectful and attentive. it may have helped that i moved around the audience with various objects, crunching a huge dry leaf to being with and bowing the bell i mentioned earlier - i have tried methods like this before but have felt like i was going through the motions, and just replicating actions of friends such as john grzinich and max shentelev, but this time i really felt it was part of the piece and needed the interaction. i even had some guy dancing (expressively of course) throughout, which definitely added an extra dimension!
after the performances, etc. david and i, and luke and elizabeth clark, decided to head back to campos and get some sleep. we stopped on the way back for some food and left all our stuff (computers and all) in the taxi while we ate. i don't even know if i'd do that in bristol!! no sad ending to the story there though, all was good.
and the sunday was pretty much taken up with david and i walking around medellin (centro and poblada) eating and drinking beer! we went back to plazarte and they gave us even more beer! it was a great day!! and fresh trout for tea, bought from one of the neighbours on via santa elena.
monday i went back to plazarte once again to record the guitar and the oil drum resonating with the various sounds i used in the performance, with a view to recomposing the piece to include these, and then was met by a young lady i actually met on the previous friday, who was doing make up for a fashion shoot that was being held in plazarte too. we went to poblado for lunch (a chicken curry for me) and then took the metro to visit the metrocable, when i suddenly felt really faint, had really bad stomach cramps and apparently went completely green! we got off a few stops before our destination and i had to sit for around 15 minutes before i could even face standing up again. juliana suggested i went back to her place to lie down (try to remember, i'm sick here people!) so after another gruelling metro ride back to where she'd parked the car, she then drove us to her place, which is up out fo the city, and also in a high rise - amazing views!
thank you once again juliana for nursing me!
after not much sleep that night through constant visits to the smallest room, i felt a little better by morning. this ebbed and flowed all day, and although i managed to eat a little rice in the evening, still felt pretty rough.
and guess what? i had to fly to bogota on wednesday! so i took as many pills as i could - although feeling much better than on monday, i still knew i was sick - and the climb from campos de gutierrez to via santa elena had never been so hard! but i managed to make it, with alejandro's help, and he also assisted in getting a taxi to the airport.
the journey went without mishap(!) and i think i even slept a little although the journey is only 50 minutes or so.
in bogota i caught a taxi from the airport to the area i'm staying in, la candelaria, which is pretty touristy but also quite nice - and i had to help him find the place! i had to ask at another hostel - in my bad spanish - as he just didn't have a clue! anyway, i'm here now. i took it very easy yesterday, still feeling weak - lack of food mainly, but the altitude doesn't help.
today i took a wander around downtown, passed by some places i recognised from being here last year and ended up at el museo de arte del banco de la republica, which is an amazing building with some good artworks - no sound pieces though and i think some of the rooms would really benefit from it! then headed to the university for 5pm where i met up with david once again and camilo rojas to rehearse for our show tomorrow - and after 4 hours there moving speakers around etc. we did rehearse... it's going to be a good show tomorrow!
oh, and also on the 3rd we were invited to the space where we were going to exhibit for a party. this was a fundraiser for a group of artists who needed to raise money to go to costa rica, and it worked! they had quite a crowd and a really great band. needless to say, my britishness came to the fore and i was unable to dance at all, even when drinking heavily! the trouble is colombians are just born dnacers - i was unable to even try as i would have looked like the flailing uncle at a wedding even if i could dance, and those of you who know me know i can't!! ah well, i met some lovely people anyway!
back to the subject - sounds were gathered for a few days at campos de gutierrez, and also continuing experiments with the sound exciters, playing 'wooden' sounds through the body of an old guitar and 'metallic' sounds through another beer can, although this was to be replaced with an oil drum i had spied at plazarte (the exhibition space). the homework paid off - once i got to the space to install on the friday, everything went according to plan. the two objects and the house speaker system were all i needed to play a multi-channel piece on the opening night. i also had plans for a small brass bell and violin bow - more later...
on thursday a young artist called miguel izasa from medellin visited us (well, me) at campos de gutierrez, and for someone so young, he's really focused and knows exactly what he's doing with sound and recording... we spent the afternoon walking up the mountain to the village of santa elena, recording when possible, but mainly chatting about sound/music/art/etc.
saturday came around and things came together on that day, with some of the artists working through the night on their installations. and the main thing was that some grass that an artist called chris wolston had ordered turned up and was installed in one of the open squares in the space. the down side of this was, as the grass was being installed, the door remained open and someone got access to the building and stole my buddy alejandro's computer (with all of his residency work on it) and projector. :-(
an absolute shame and it really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy... after fruitless attempts at tracking down the thieves, and much soul searching, he went ahead with his show, which was great.
also on saturday, david velez from bogota came to perform. he decided to play in a duo with miguel and their performance was pretty great, although affected by loud chatter and the sub-standard speaker system. they were set up by the bar and i asked the bar to be closed during performances but there was no stopping it!
i practically begged the organisers to close the bar for my performance, knowing it was going to be a lot quieter than david and miguel's, and thankfully they did. there was still chatter from other parts of the building, but in the square, the audience were really great, respectful and attentive. it may have helped that i moved around the audience with various objects, crunching a huge dry leaf to being with and bowing the bell i mentioned earlier - i have tried methods like this before but have felt like i was going through the motions, and just replicating actions of friends such as john grzinich and max shentelev, but this time i really felt it was part of the piece and needed the interaction. i even had some guy dancing (expressively of course) throughout, which definitely added an extra dimension!
after the performances, etc. david and i, and luke and elizabeth clark, decided to head back to campos and get some sleep. we stopped on the way back for some food and left all our stuff (computers and all) in the taxi while we ate. i don't even know if i'd do that in bristol!! no sad ending to the story there though, all was good.
and the sunday was pretty much taken up with david and i walking around medellin (centro and poblada) eating and drinking beer! we went back to plazarte and they gave us even more beer! it was a great day!! and fresh trout for tea, bought from one of the neighbours on via santa elena.
monday i went back to plazarte once again to record the guitar and the oil drum resonating with the various sounds i used in the performance, with a view to recomposing the piece to include these, and then was met by a young lady i actually met on the previous friday, who was doing make up for a fashion shoot that was being held in plazarte too. we went to poblado for lunch (a chicken curry for me) and then took the metro to visit the metrocable, when i suddenly felt really faint, had really bad stomach cramps and apparently went completely green! we got off a few stops before our destination and i had to sit for around 15 minutes before i could even face standing up again. juliana suggested i went back to her place to lie down (try to remember, i'm sick here people!) so after another gruelling metro ride back to where she'd parked the car, she then drove us to her place, which is up out fo the city, and also in a high rise - amazing views!
thank you once again juliana for nursing me!
after not much sleep that night through constant visits to the smallest room, i felt a little better by morning. this ebbed and flowed all day, and although i managed to eat a little rice in the evening, still felt pretty rough.
and guess what? i had to fly to bogota on wednesday! so i took as many pills as i could - although feeling much better than on monday, i still knew i was sick - and the climb from campos de gutierrez to via santa elena had never been so hard! but i managed to make it, with alejandro's help, and he also assisted in getting a taxi to the airport.
the journey went without mishap(!) and i think i even slept a little although the journey is only 50 minutes or so.
in bogota i caught a taxi from the airport to the area i'm staying in, la candelaria, which is pretty touristy but also quite nice - and i had to help him find the place! i had to ask at another hostel - in my bad spanish - as he just didn't have a clue! anyway, i'm here now. i took it very easy yesterday, still feeling weak - lack of food mainly, but the altitude doesn't help.
today i took a wander around downtown, passed by some places i recognised from being here last year and ended up at el museo de arte del banco de la republica, which is an amazing building with some good artworks - no sound pieces though and i think some of the rooms would really benefit from it! then headed to the university for 5pm where i met up with david once again and camilo rojas to rehearse for our show tomorrow - and after 4 hours there moving speakers around etc. we did rehearse... it's going to be a good show tomorrow!
Friday 2 March 2012
oaxaca - mexico city - medellin
the show at cafe central was a little disappointing to be honest - and i should have known it would be really. i had to play from the stage so had no idea how the piece sounded in the room - low frequencies caused the whole stage to shake so i actually thought i was playing louder than i probably was - lesson learned once again. and half the audience where attentive while the other half chatted away, which i kind of expected but always distracts me... anyway, yadira and the rest of the staff at cafe central were great - really friendly and always ready to get me yet another complementary drink (after performing of course!) and i did get a little bit of cash for my troubles.
after going for more excellent street food with john jairo, gabriela (my hosts), federico and alejandra i headed back to the cafe alone to grab a couple more drinks, made friends with a norwegian guy and two young ladies from tijuana/san diego and we stayed out drinking until 6am! then i got lost trying to find my way back to jj and gabi's place! suddenly, a little drunk and more than a little worried, my spanish actually came back to me and i was able to ask a passer by for help in getting back to the zocalo, where i could navigate from - it turned out i had walked in completely the opposite direction!!
so after getting back around 7am and grabbing 3 hours sleep, my hosts took me for breakfast and then to monte alban, which although is a tourist attraction, is a great way to spend 3 hours walking around!
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/mexico/oaxaca-monte-alban.htm
another day of hanging out in oaxaca and then i headed back to mexico city by bus - the ride is one of the most beautiful i have done. half the 6 hour journey takes you up over the mountain range north of oaxaca.
so after more exploring of mexico city and meeting with marco morales at muac once more for lunch and to collect some cd's and dvd's of mine that my parents sent me and took 5 weeks to arrive, i meet up with dario bernal-villegas, an improvising drummer based in mexico city, for mezcal, beer and food - an honour to meet you dario!
i got to medellin, colombia yesterday after having to get up @ 4am. then amazingly had just enough mexican pesos to pay for the two nights at the hotel i was in and the taxi to the airport! dead jammy.
the flight took me to san jose in costa rica - that country looks amazing from the air - i may have to go an explore if/when my spanish improves...
then breezed baggage collection and immigration, to then sit in arrivals for over an hour waiting for someone to come get me...
ah well, at least i'm here now. internet access will be severely limited as we all (6 of us at the last count) are sharing a mobile internet dongle - the type you plug into your computer using a usb port.
the other artists seem ok - i have made good friends with a spanish painter whose english is only marginally better than my spanish! i think we'll be teaching each other for the month i'm here!
it turns out i'm the old guy here - everyone else is late 20's to early 30's but they're ok... another sound artist and his wife from uk (luke and elizabeth), an artist called bjork from iceland (not THE bjork...), a guy from the states doing ceramics called chris, a french video artist - oralee (probably spelt that wrong!) - who was actually born and adopted in colombia by french parents and the guy who is co-ordinating the residency, andres. hmm, i thought there were more - maybe i'm forgetting someone...
anyway, the house is incredible - there is a link on my facebook page but it doesn't do the place justice! i'm sitting on the verenda, looking out over trees and fields and i can see medellin in the distance - it's around a 30 minute bus ride into town - i went with alejandro, the spanish artist, yesterday to help him shop for the evening meal - that was an experience!! the driver doesn't take into consideration the standing passengers when negotiating a winding mountain road, believe me!
so today i will be recording, and seeing the space we will be presenting work in on the 10th... updates when i can! :-)
after going for more excellent street food with john jairo, gabriela (my hosts), federico and alejandra i headed back to the cafe alone to grab a couple more drinks, made friends with a norwegian guy and two young ladies from tijuana/san diego and we stayed out drinking until 6am! then i got lost trying to find my way back to jj and gabi's place! suddenly, a little drunk and more than a little worried, my spanish actually came back to me and i was able to ask a passer by for help in getting back to the zocalo, where i could navigate from - it turned out i had walked in completely the opposite direction!!
so after getting back around 7am and grabbing 3 hours sleep, my hosts took me for breakfast and then to monte alban, which although is a tourist attraction, is a great way to spend 3 hours walking around!
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/mexico/oaxaca-monte-alban.htm
another day of hanging out in oaxaca and then i headed back to mexico city by bus - the ride is one of the most beautiful i have done. half the 6 hour journey takes you up over the mountain range north of oaxaca.
so after more exploring of mexico city and meeting with marco morales at muac once more for lunch and to collect some cd's and dvd's of mine that my parents sent me and took 5 weeks to arrive, i meet up with dario bernal-villegas, an improvising drummer based in mexico city, for mezcal, beer and food - an honour to meet you dario!
i got to medellin, colombia yesterday after having to get up @ 4am. then amazingly had just enough mexican pesos to pay for the two nights at the hotel i was in and the taxi to the airport! dead jammy.
the flight took me to san jose in costa rica - that country looks amazing from the air - i may have to go an explore if/when my spanish improves...
then breezed baggage collection and immigration, to then sit in arrivals for over an hour waiting for someone to come get me...
ah well, at least i'm here now. internet access will be severely limited as we all (6 of us at the last count) are sharing a mobile internet dongle - the type you plug into your computer using a usb port.
the other artists seem ok - i have made good friends with a spanish painter whose english is only marginally better than my spanish! i think we'll be teaching each other for the month i'm here!
it turns out i'm the old guy here - everyone else is late 20's to early 30's but they're ok... another sound artist and his wife from uk (luke and elizabeth), an artist called bjork from iceland (not THE bjork...), a guy from the states doing ceramics called chris, a french video artist - oralee (probably spelt that wrong!) - who was actually born and adopted in colombia by french parents and the guy who is co-ordinating the residency, andres. hmm, i thought there were more - maybe i'm forgetting someone...
anyway, the house is incredible - there is a link on my facebook page but it doesn't do the place justice! i'm sitting on the verenda, looking out over trees and fields and i can see medellin in the distance - it's around a 30 minute bus ride into town - i went with alejandro, the spanish artist, yesterday to help him shop for the evening meal - that was an experience!! the driver doesn't take into consideration the standing passengers when negotiating a winding mountain road, believe me!
so today i will be recording, and seeing the space we will be presenting work in on the 10th... updates when i can! :-)
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